Former England international Paul Robinson has backed Jordan Pickford over his role in Croatia’s goal against the Three Lions on Sunday.
Andrej Kramaric put the visitors ahead at Wembley, before Gareth Southgate’s side came roaring back to record a 2-1 victory.
And Robinson feels that Pickford was not at fault for Kramaric’s strike: “If I was Jordan Pickford there I’d be having a few words to say to my defenders,” he said on beIN SPORTS.
"If I was Jordan Pickford…"@GKPaulRobinson explains how he'd have handled Croatia's goal. #NationsLeague #ENGCRO pic.twitter.com/HVcKF84sGY
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 18, 2018
“Not just the space that he’s got but the time that he’s got. There’s nobody close to him. They need to be closer to him. He got a little bit lucky with his finish but the amount of space and time that he’s got in the box, that’s something that Gareth will look at and be disappointed with.”
OPINION
You can’t criticise Pickford for Kramaric’s goal really. First of all, like Robinson says, the England defenders didn’t do enough to prevent the Croat from scoring. Secondly, his shot took a deflection off Eric Dier, making it incredibly difficult for Pickford to do anything about it. There were a few hairy moments for the Everton shot-stopper, but overall the 24-year-old performed well up against an extremely talented Croatian team. He made several important saves and also created chances down the other end with his sublime distribution. He is undoubtedly one of the finest ‘keepers in world football with his feet, and he’s only going to get better as he gets older. He couldn’t have done anything about Croatia’s goal and Robinson has expertly detailed why. Kramaric was given way too much time in the box and you simply can’t afford players that amount of space at this level.